Your Name As An Adjective - Above the Law

"Last week, Xi Jinping, the president of China, said that he hoped the world could avoid falling into a "Thucydides trap." Xi wins. I'd heard of Thucydides, but I couldn't have told you what his trap was."

"Someone was talking about the Strait of Hormuz recently, and he said the strait was seemingly open and closed at the same time. American leaders said they had defeated the Iranians, so the strait was open, but then had independently chosen to blockade the strait, so it was closed. Open and closed at the same time, snickered the pundit. Sort of like Schrodinger's cat."

"If you read Scott Greenfield's thoughts over at Simple Justice, you'll occasionally be told that you shouldn't change a rule unless you know what purpose the rule was intended to serve. According to Greenfield, that's like Chesterton's fence."

"I was reading something recently, and the text told me that I'd have to turn the thought over in my mind, like pondering Theseus's ship."

Xi Jinping referenced avoiding a “Thucydides trap,” prompting questions about whether global conflict dynamics are worsening or simply more noticeable. The text connects this to how people recognize and reuse political phrases and frameworks, such as the “Overton window,” without needing precise definitions. It gives examples of seemingly contradictory claims about the Strait of Hormuz, likened to Schrodinger’s cat, and of legal reasoning that discourages changing rules without understanding their original purpose, likened to Chesterton’s fence. It also compares thinking processes to Theseus’s ship, where identity depends on how parts change. The overall theme is that familiarity with concepts can heighten perceived frequency and clarity of patterns.

Read at Above the Law